On Thursday, March 3, Dr Jack Miller will be coming to Vancouver to participate in a special Speakers Series event. In his talk entitled “Educating for Wisdom and Compassion”, Dr Miller will provide his definition of wisdom and he will also share how a holistic curriculum can nurture this wisdom.

For Dr Miller, wisdom is comprised of three things: humility, insight and love. A holistic education, he believes, caters to all three of these elements.

“A holistic curriculum is about interconnectedness,” he said in a conversation with the Dalai Lama Center. “The students see how things are related at every different level.”

“Generally, the way things are done in schools is that everything is broken down in such a way that kids can’t see how they are connected. If students can see how things are related, that leads to wisdom and compassion.”

Dr Miller has been working in the field of holistic education for over 30 years and has worked extensively with holistic educators in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. And he emphasizes the importance of educators when it comes to child development.

“Obviously, they have to be compassionate in order for kids to become compassionate,” he says. “But the most important thing is that they be present, be mindful and be caring. They have to not just teach these qualities, but exhibit them as well.”

The author of more than a dozen books on holistic teaching also feels that schools need to make a move away from standardized testing.

“Of course, there needs to be a certain level of competition in education, but I think we need to look at other ways to evaluate students that are not so problematic and even destructive in some ways.”

Dr Miller will be speaking at at the Delta Vancouver Suites Hotel on March 3 at 7:00 pm. For tickets visit VancouverTix.com. For more information on the event, visit the Dalai Lama Center site.